Standardising the organisation of clinical equipment on surgical wards at North Bristol NHS Trust: A quality improvement initiative

A group of foundation year one doctors identified the organisation of clinical equipment across surgical wards at North Bristol NHS Trust to be poor with stocks often low and items frequently difficult to locate. Time-motion studies (n=80) were confirmatory demonstrating that the mean time to collect equipment necessary for venepuncture, cannulation, arterial blood gases, or blood cultures ranged from 121 to 174 seconds between different areas.

By applying a plan-do-study-act (PDSA) methodology, surveying peers as well as working with nursing staff and senior managers, the authors report being able to purchase and implement clinical equipment trolleys on 10 surgical wards across the trust to reduce the time-taken to locate clinical equipment to between 38 to 45 seconds (p=0.01). They identify the key factors for the success of their initiative as strong multidisciplinary engagement and a simple uniform idea. Clinical equipment trolleys organised in a standardised manner have now been rolled out hospital-wide in the new Southmead Hospital Brunel building.